Thursday, August 22, 2013

My Top 30 Books on Black Paris & Beyond

A section of my bookcase.

The largest private collection of books on the African American experience in France I ever saw was on the shelves upon shelves at the home of the late Professor Michel Fabre.
Bookish people like me tend to be a little particular about lending out their precious books but Professor Fabre opened the door and said 'Have a look around. Then, find anything?" I found the stories that I tell on the tours today.

And, in the spirit of those who dedicate their time and passions to teaching or learning about the Black experience, I'd like to share a few of my books with you. Go ahead, pick one or two and prepare yourself for a trip through exceptional lives and experiences.

I've added a few on this list about Paris and France, too, because one theme is a rich source for the other.

Books We Use on the Tour

Deep Are
The Roots - Memoirs of a Black Expatriate
Gordon Heath
Actor in New York and London, turned folk club
nightclub owner of Cabaret de l'Abbaye from 1948 in Saint-Germain-des-Pres amid
the rage of jazz clubs.

Henry
Ossawa Tanner - A Spiritual Journey
Marcus C. Bruce
In the Lives and Legacies series by Crossroads Publishing Company.

Tanner’s
story is one where you cheer on the little guy who wields a huge amounts of talent.

He
was more than an inspired painter - dedicated husband, proud father, mentor,
community leader, Red Cross worker.

La
reine des pommesChester Himes
The 50th anniversary of the Serie Noire by Gallimard.
The novel that opened the doors to the France kingdom for Chester
Himes. Turned into the movie 'A Rage In Harlem'.

Black
Boy - the restored text established by the Library of America, 1993
edition
Richard Wright
Signed by Wright's daughter, Julia Wright.
I love the way every couple of years the cover of this timeless novel changes,
in a style that attracts new readers all over again Why
I Left America and Other EssaysOliver
W. Harrington. Introduction by M. Thomas Inge.
A close friend of Richard Wright and well-known Pittsburgh cartoonist, Harrington
gives indepth perspective on his exile in Europe, his homeland, and the
culture he was trying to outrun. I use readings from this in my presentations.

Three
Lives
Gertrude Stein
This was Stein's first published book, and one of the three lives is that of
Melanctha, a worldly-wise and sensitive Black girl. When Richard Wright read
this story, he said he could hear his grandmother's voice in the character, and
he struck up a lifelong friendship with Stein. From
Harlem to Paris - Black American Writers in France, 1840-1980
Michel Fabre
My bible.

A
Street Guide to African Americans in Paris
Michel Fabre
Bible #2

Notes of a
Native Son, 1984 edition.

James
Baldwin

Baldwin’s first nonfiction book. To get inside Baldwin’s mind via these
searing essays is an unforgettable trip. Includes life in Harlem, protest novels and his
first, turbulent insights on living in Paris.

For Ongoing Research and Enlightenment

Negrophilia
- Avant-Garde Paris and Black Culture in the 1920s
Petrine Archer-StrawExplores the ambiguities and racial
complexities of the 1920s Paris through every artistic
and cultural expression possible. Absolutely fascinating.

The
ABC of Color
W.E.B. DuBois. Introduction by John Oliver Killens
Sixty years of brilliant insights from this social scientist, historian and
pioneer in black liberation. While trying to find myself in the European
culture during my first years in Paris, this book got me
reflecting on what it meant to be black.

Black
Paris - The African Writers' Landscape
Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Forward by Simon Njami
This professor of sociology at U. California at San Diego explores African
writing and identity in France from early negritude,
founding of the Presence Africaine publishing house to the mid-1990s.

Black
France / France Noire - The History and
Politics of Blackness
Trica Danielle Keaton, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Tyler Stovall, Editors.
In a country that doesn't recognize race as a meaningful category, how to understand
and explain the realities of race and racism in this supposedly race-blind
society. Brilliant essays that address some deeply challenging questions on how
prejudice manifests itself. You don't get a better picture than through these three experts.

The
Harlem Renaissance - Hub of African American Culture,
1920-1930.Steven
Watson.
Amazing achival photos and page-turning storytelling. This book helped me gain
foundation and bridge between the Harlem Renaissance and the brilliance that
continued in Roaring Twenties Paris.

Talking
at the Gates - A Life of James BaldwinJames Baldwin
Say it again, James.

Paris Then and Now

Writers in
Paris - Literary Lives in the
City of Light
David Burke
Love the way David tells a story - Includes Wright, Baldwin, Alexandre Dumaswww.writersinparis.com

Le Paris
des Etrangers, (The Paris of
Foreigners)
Edited by Andre Kaspi and Antoine Mares
Paris as a refuge for the self-exiled, poets, writers, photographers,
musicians, architects, sculptors, as well as students, workers, the persecuted
and dilettantes from all nationalities... Interesting reflection on how
French attitudes were changing.

De
l'indigene à l'immigre(From Native to
Immigrant)
Pascale Blanchard, Nicolas Bancel
In the series Decouvertes Gallimard
The French colonial model ‘bringing their colonies gently into the light of
civilization’, as the authors put it. From colonialization to immigration to
integration of France's colonies. Excellent
archival images of advertising depicting Black, Arabic and South East Asian
stereotypes.

Les Juifs à
Paris a la Belle Epoque
Beatrice Philippe
Because I also have a keen interest in Jewish culture.

Gourmet
Paris - an A to Z of the best dishes - Restaurant guide
Emmanuel Rubin
More than just a handy guide, it describes the traditional French dishes and
gives historical context to the dishes. Mini history of France by mouth.

Guide
to Impressionist Paris
Patty Lurie
A brilliant then-and-now guide book of street scenes as painted by Degas,
Manet, Monet, Van Gogh et al juxtaposed with photographs of the exact same
location today. Because Paris is always a dance
between the past and the present.

Chic et
jolie à petits prix a Paris - the best addresses
for fashion and beauty for smart Parisians.Charlotte Roudaut, from the series Les Guides
qui changent la ville.I'm not
much of a shopper and this little guide book makes it easy for me to cut
through the shash.

The
Road from the Past - Traveling through History in France
Ina Caro
More than just facts, an opinionated guide that takes history buffs like me
right into the heart of Provence, Loire Valley and all point in between. How
can you live in this country and not succomb to the pull of history.

Boris Vian - Manuel de Saint-Germain-des-Pres

Boris
Vian (aka The White Negro)

Vian
was the pope of post WWII Saint-Germain-des-Pres, he opened jazz clubs where the
best musicians (Miles, Sidney, Bud P…) came to play but he was also a fabulous,
irreverent raconteur of his favorite neighborhood. This edition includes a
booklet of photos plus a CD. This, plus Alain Souchon’s “Rive Gauche à Paris”
brings back the best days of this part of the6tharrondissement.

L'Afrique de la colonisation a l'independance
Anne Stamm, from the series Que sais-je?My primer
on African colonization to Independence.

Is it possible that we have a reincarnation of Richard Wright and Chester Himes in our midst? Mais, oui! From Jake's first - the autobiographical 'Bourgeois Blues' to political thrillers to Paris based who mystery-thrillers, Jake is the master.

Tanner Blue
- a novel
Valerie Haynes Perry
A story born on the Left Bank of the Seine when the author learned that the
French named a color after Henry Ossawa Tanner. Valerie penned this after
taking our tours.

Project Girl
Janet McDonald
A powerful account of a young girl from the Projects struggle to realize her
dreams. Janet, a lawyer turned successful author, who realized her dream of
living in Paris and becoming a writer. A segment of her divided
life and battle to reconcile opposing worlds.

Passing Love
- a novel
Jacqueline E. Luckett
This romantic yet realistic novel shifts between Paris of today lived by a
young questing woman and the jazzy expat city of the 1950s.

Half-Blood Blues
Esi Edugyan
Written by an Afro-Canadian, this award-winning novel of WWII jazz era Paris and Nazi Germany stands
out with its musical diction - it reads like a jazz piece.

Annandale Blues
Guy Ducornet
The memoir of a young French jazz lover whose encounter with Ralph Ellison
changed his life. He wrote this book after meeting me on a flight from Paris and I told him the
significance of his living on Rue Fontaine, formerly the heart of 1920s Black
Paris.

About Me

I began following the footsteps of black ghosts in Paris in 1994
after studying with the late Sorbonne Professor Michel Fabre. Then I
created a series of walking and now bus tours - Walking The Spirit
Tours. It's been my pleasure to share my passion for Black history and
Paris with visitors and locals of all backgrounds all these years. This blogLletter is a means to keep that dialogue going. Enjoy!